30 March 2013

PRESS RELEASE – CFM, an industrial-robotics company, is proud to announce the official opening of its new plant in the Gene H. Kruger Industrial Park.

The company, founded in 1996, had been housed for 13 years in the premises of the Comité de promotion industrielle de Brompton (CPIB – Brompton industrial promotion committee), and has now moved into its newly built plant on brand-new Joseph-Latour Street. The relocation, which cost over $700,000, will provide security for the company’s 12 jobs, in a huge, open 8,000-square-foot facility purpose-built for its production. The company’s venture was supported by Sherbrooke Innopole and Investissement Québec and is expected to create 4 new jobs within a year. CFM would also like to thank Constructions Patrick Sévigny Inc. for its work on the project and the Comité de promotion industrielle de Brompton et de Desjardins for its unconditional support over the years.

» See photos from the press conference

CFM specializes in the design and manufacture of automated machinery and robotic cells, camera inspection equipment, and applied-engineering solutions. “Our hallmark is that each project is unique. We design, program, and manufacture products customized to our customers’ needs,” explained Denis Paquette, President and co-owner of CFM.

The firm has innovated by creating multipurpose robotic cells that can be adapted to most projects. “We have used mobile robotic cells to develop a method of standardizing custom projects, working from an endlessly adaptable basic structure” explained Steve Blanchette, co-owner since 2010 and Director of Business Development. “That way, we can quickly design the machine the customer needs, at a reasonable cost. The cells enable us to even execute two processing steps at the same time or change applications every day.”

“This versatility matters,” said Nathalie Prince, Director of the Advanced Manufacturing sector at Sherbrooke Innopole. “Globalization demands that, in addition to targeting value-added products, businesses must also come up with strategies to maximize their customers’ return on investment. Developing multipurpose production equipment is a perfect strategy for this purpose, because it so clearly achieves the goal of substantially cutting the payback period. This makes it a winning strategy for Atelier CFM, further making the company stand out and highly competitive.”

CFM produces automated machinery and robotic equipment for a range of customers, including BRP, Waterville TG, Camoplast, Uniboard, and GE Aviation. It keeps its production all in-house, requiring very little contracting-out. “That way, we can supervise every aspect of the projects, which customers really appreciate,” said Paquette.